Iowa GOP chief in the spotlight

When Matt Strawn first tried to become Iowa’s Republican Party chairman in 2009, he squeaked into the winner’s circle after a sometimes-ugly battle with former state Rep. Danny Carroll. Two years later, he ran for reelection — unopposed — at the request of Gov. Terry Branstad.

It made sense: Strawn had resuscitated a once-broken state party organization into a fundraising force with a string of midterm election cycle wins, and emerged as a rising star among Republicans who has built on his native Iowan roots along with strong insider credentials as a former congressional aide.

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He’s been everywhere promoting the state, and the caucus system (Strawn has strongly defended his state’s first-in-the-nation status with steady, on-message statements in at least a half-dozen cable network interviews recently).

Now, the 37-year-old is preparing for his first presidential caucuses as chairman, keeping his sights firmly focused on preserving Iowa’s status as the most relevant early event in the primary cycle, at a time when Florida is jockeying for enhanced position — and when some Hawkeye State Republicans are fretting that the power of social conservatives in the caucuses may imperil Iowa’s role in future presidential nominating contests.

Mitt Romney is already playing lightly in the state, and Jon Huntsman is probably skipping it entirely, four years after John McCain captured the nomination after barely campaigning, and losing, in Iowa.

“My role two years ago was very different when we didn’t have a governor, didn’t have a speaker [from the GOP],” Strawn said. “My role was a lead messenger. … [Now] my role is to be the chief advocate for Iowa, nationally, in making sure the caucuses remain in a lead off position. But also helping people outside of Iowa understand the role that [it] plays.”

“Closer to home,” added Strawn, “my role is making sure that the Republican Party of Iowa is used as a vehicle [for 2012 candidates] to meet as many caucus-goers as possible. “

With the ship steady now, it’s easy to forget that Strawn’s task in 2010 was formidable. One Iowa GOP chairman (Ray Hoffman) abruptly stepped down in the middle of the 2008 cycle, and his temporary replacement (Stewart Iverson) opted against running for a full term of his own. On both men’s watch, the party suffered huge electoral losses.

Strawn, a Hill aide-turned-operative-turned-businessman — he co-owns the Iowa Barnstormers football team, which he lured back to the state from New York in 2007 — said his revamp of the party hewed closely to a “100-day action plan” he’d pitched on a self-run blog while running for the chairmanship in late December 2008.